Jul 313 min read

The Drum Doctor

Updated: Oct 15

Dr Steve Gadd plays two sold out shows at Yoshi's in Oaklands' Jack London Square.

At the end of July in 2024, on a lovely Sunday and Monday night, drummer Steve Gadd and band played to two completely packed shows at Yoshi's. They played for a full 90 minutes to an adoring crowd filled with many musicans and drum lovers. My plus one is in the former and I fall in the latter category. His son, Duke played alongside him on percussion for this performance. Gadds' tour manager told me that I was lucky to have seen them both together as Duke lives in Hawaii and is not on tour with his dad often. Duke is a drummer in his own right....Good drummers genes!

I saw Steve Gadd play at Yoshi's a couple years ago and remember that his band were all stand out musicians and really memorable. His band consist of, Michael Landau, Jeff Babko, Travis Carlton and Walt Fowler with the added special sauce of Duke Gadd on percussion. They have all been members in numerous top notch bands throughout the years and are now regulars in the Steve Gadd band. When Steve Gadd plays he makes it look so easy. He looks so chill, like there's no effort involved. But he has been playing drums for a lifetime so there's that! In 2005 he got an Honorary Doctor of Music degree, from the Berklee College of Music. Hence the name "Dr. Gadd".

Gadd is now 79 years old and has been playing drums since he was 11. He hails from New York and when he was a kid, he won a trip to California in a Mickey Mouse Talent Round up contest. When he came out to California he got to meet Walt Disney and played drums, as well as a little tap dancing for The Mickey Mouse Club. Many decades later he is one of the highest regarded studio drummers in the music industry. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. And he has performed on so many hit records through the past several decades. From Steeley Dan to Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Chuck Mangione, Chick Corea, James Taylor and many many more.

Steve Gadd has been touring with James Taylor since 2014. He's even written a book on the rudiments of drumming entitled Gaddiments, released in 2021. He seems like a delightful man and by witnessing Duke playing next to him on stage this time I saw him perform, the two seem to have a lovely connection. Needless to say, he exuded the "proud papa" effects of tonights performance! On this night at Yoshi's I've never seen it so packed. I overheard someone asking to sit in a certain location and the Yoshis staff member showing the guy to his seat said, sorry theres only one seat in the entire venue unoccupied....probably by someone who did not show up. Towards the end of the show I noticed about six stools brought from the bar area to seat extras. It's not often that a drummer can pack a venue like this, but Steve Gadd has, in both the February 2022 performance and this month.